FlowiseAI/Flowise · error · Error

cannot provide both `filter` and `this.filter`

Error message

cannot provide both `filter` and `this.filter`

What it means

similaritySearchVectorWithScore forbids passing a per-call filter when the instance was already constructed with this.filter, to avoid ambiguity about which filter wins. Pick one source of truth.

Source

Thrown at packages/components/nodes/vectorstores/Chroma/core.ts:208

                where: { ...params.filter }
            })
        } else {
            throw new Error(`You must provide one of "ids or "filter".`)
        }
    }

    /**
     * Searches for vectors in the Chroma database that are similar to the
     * provided query vector. The search can be filtered using the provided
     * `filter` object or the `filter` property of the `Chroma` instance.
     * @param query The query vector.
     * @param k The number of similar vectors to return.
     * @param filter Optional. A `filter` object to filter the search results.
     * @returns A promise that resolves with an array of tuples, each containing a `Document` instance and a similarity score.
     */
    async similaritySearchVectorWithScore(query: number[], k: number, filter?: this['FilterType']) {
        if (filter && this.filter) {
            throw new Error('cannot provide both `filter` and `this.filter`')
        }
        const _filter = filter ?? this.filter
        const where = _filter === undefined ? undefined : { ..._filter }

        const collection = await this.ensureCollection()

        // similaritySearchVectorWithScore supports one query vector at a time
        // chroma supports multiple query vectors at a time
        const result = await collection.query({
            queryEmbeddings: [query],
            nResults: k,
            where
        })

        const { ids, distances, documents, metadatas } = result
        if (!ids || !distances || !documents || !metadatas) {
            return []
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to abe4a8601a)

Solutions

1. If you need a per-query filter, construct the Chroma instance without this.filter.
2. If the instance filter is what you want, drop the per-call filter argument.
3. Build two instances (one with the default filter, one without) for the two use cases.

Example fix

// before
const store = new Chroma(embeddings, { filter: { author: 'x' } })
await store.similaritySearchVectorWithScore(q, k, { author: 'y' }) // throws

// after
const store = new Chroma(embeddings, {}) // no instance filter
await store.similaritySearchVectorWithScore(q, k, { author: 'y' })

function canApplyPerCallFilter(store: Chroma, filter?: unknown): boolean {
  return !filter || !store.filter // ok if either is absent
}
if (!canApplyPerCallFilter(store, perCallFilter)) {
  throw new Error('Conflicting filters: instance filter and per-call filter both set')
}

function hasInstanceFilter(store: { filter?: unknown }): boolean {
  return store.filter !== undefined && store.filter !== null
}

try {
  await store.similaritySearchVectorWithScore(q, k, filter)
} catch (e) {
  if (/both .filter./i.test(String(e))) {
    // drop the instance filter by reconstructing without it
    const bare = new Chroma(store.embeddings, { ...store.clientParams })
    await bare.similaritySearchVectorWithScore(q, k, filter)
  } else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Chroma instance created with `new Chroma(..., { filter })` and the caller also passes a third-argument filter to similaritySearch / similaritySearchVectorWithScore.

Common situations: Reusable singleton store with a default filter, then a per-query override attempted; copy-paste between code paths that set filters differently.

Related errors

• You must provide one of "ids or "filter".
• chatflowId must be a valid array
• dataset.rows must be a valid array
• Search request failed: ${searchResponse.warning || 'Unknown
• Firecrawl: Query is required for search mode

AI-assisted analysis of FlowiseAI/Flowise@abe4a8601a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/77b1d8b5c81c46fb. Report an issue: GitHub.